BOYS’ BASKETBALL PREVIEW : Central League Loaded, but No One’s Sure Who’ll Wear Crown

Jerry Marvin, veteran Palisades High School boys basketball coach, says that every college scout he talks to tells him that the City’s 4-A Central League has four of the top 10 teams in the country.

Unfortunately, they also tell him that his team is not one of them. The four are Crenshaw, Dorsey, Westchester and either Fremont or Washington, depending on which scout you talk to.

“We could be last in the league, and this could be one of the best teams I’ve every had,” Marvin said in frustration.

Many observers feel that Crenshaw is the best team in that league and has a good chance of winning its fourth state championship. But several other City teams outside the Central League could thwart Coach Willie West’s Cougars, including Manual Arts of the Marine League and Valley 4-A League powers Cleveland and Fairfax, defending 4-A City champion.

No matter which team wins the 4-A City title and goes on to the Division I Regional playoffs, the odds are good that it will be a squad from the Westside, which should enjoy some of the best prep basketball ever seen in this area.

A look at each of this year’s Westside City teams follows.

CRENSHAW

Coach West has three returning starters from last year’s team, which had an “off” year, winning the Central League title as usual but failing to win a 10th City championship for West. The Cougars finished 19-5 overall, 9-1 in league, and were eliminated in the semifinals of the playoffs by Cleveland.

The three, all seniors, are 6-7 center Cornelius Holden, 6-6 forward Doug Meekins and 6-4 forward John Staggers. Holden and Meekins signed early letters of intent, Holden with Louisville and Meekins with Washington. Ronnie Winbush, a 6-5 senior, will be a backup in the front court.

Charlie Hill, a 6-2 senior, will start at guard, and three other seniors are vying for the other guard’s spots: David Hollaway, a 6-2 3/4 transfer from Westchester; 6-1 Damon Hill and 5-11 Jalal Abdul Rahman, whose father is UCLA Coach Walt Hazzard.

West is not quite as optimistic about his team as the other league coaches, but he knows he has a good one. “We’re contemplating some good things, but a lot of things have to jell,” he said, adding:

“Right now things are not the way I like them, but, hopefully, they will be by the team of league play. We have talent, but we just have to get everything synchronized, get everyone playing as one with the same goal.”

DORSEY

Coach Dave Gordon has both starting guards back, 6-3 Marcus Nash and 6-1 Anthony Thomas, both seniors. He also has a lot of other veterans who saw quite a bit of action for the Dons, who finished 16-6 overall, 7-3 in Central League play and were eliminated in the City semifinals by Fairfax.

Experienced players include 6-5 senior forward Chris Brooks, a part-time starter last season; 6-4 senior center Steve Turner, 6-3 senior forward Derek Magee and 6-5 senior backup center Dimario Sykes.

Varsity newcomers include 6-5 forward-center Chris Mims, who will get a late start after playing football; 6-4 sophomore forward Tony Booten and seniors Carlos Johnson, a 6-3 forward, and Kevin Courteney, a 5-10 guard.

Gordon said that, even though the league is strong, “we should be very competitive.

“If we put everything together, I think we can be right there. We need to play team ball and work hard on defense.”

FAIRFAX

Coach Harvey Kitani could make good use of forwards Sean Higgins and J. D. Greene, but Higgins is a freshman at Michigan and Green at Southern Methodist.

He will have to make better use, if that is possible, of 6-7 center-forward Chris Mills, last season’s 4-A City player of the year. In 19 regular-season games, Mills averaged 25.8 points and 12.5 rebounds. Fairfax finished the year at 26-1, losing only to the eventual state champion, Mater Dei of Santa Ana, in the finals of the Southern California Division I Regional playoffs.

Mills will get help in the front court from 6-7 senior Ilan Levy-Meyer, an immigrant from Israel, and from 6-2 senior point guard Andre Durity. Kitani said that Levy-Meyer “is coming along very well and might be our best outside shooter.” Durity, who signed an early letter of intent with St. Mary’s of Moraga, averaged 6.5 points and 5.3 assists last season.

Fighting for center are former junior varsity players Norman Francis, a 6-5 junior, and Chris Dane, a 6-7 senior. The other starting guard probably will be 6-0 senior Jamie Hamilton, also up from the jayvees.

Kitani said the teams to beat in 4-A competition include Crenshaw, Cleveland, Manual Arts and Westchester. “I’d like to think we’re the other team that has a chance.”

HAMILTON

When Hamilton was designated as a magnet school in music it was good for the school as a whole. But when Louis Pasteur Junior High, which provided Hamilton with good basketball players, was closed, it was not good for the Yankee basketball team.

“We should have a heckuva pep band at our games,” said Coach Dave Uyeshima, adding, however, that he has had no luck in finding a 6-9 flutist who also plays basketball.

Four starters return from a team that finished 1-18 overall and 1-11 in the Valley 4-A League. “We’ve got a lot of returning people,” Uyeshima said, “but that’s about it. We’re probably the smallest team in the city.”

The starters back are 6-3 forward Steve Green, 6-0 guard Marcquel Jones and 6-1 forward Troy Cherry, all seniors, and 6-3 junior center Steve Rothman. Derek Parks, a 6-0 senior transfer from St. Monica, will start at the other guard.

Lettermen are 6-2 senior center-forward Greg Anderson and 6-2 junior forward Eric Shamburger. Newcomers include 6-1 junior forward Jason Dinning, 6-3 senior forward Leonard Baker, a transfer from Dorsey; 5-11 senior guard Mark Turmbach, a transfer from Villa Park High in Orange County, and 6-2 senior center Kevin Crane.

HOLLYWOOD

Wendell Greer coached at Jefferson and saw the Democrats win two Pac-6 League 3-A championships. But now he is at Hollywood, which went 4-15 overall and 0-10 in league play last season.

But Greer has brought optimism with him. Although the Sheiks finished last in the league last year, he said, “We’ll change that--very much so. We have the same players; they just have a different attitude.”

His rosy outlook is based on two returning starters, senior wings Jin Park and Jeffrey Holmes, and three sophomores: 6-2 forward Shawn McGuire, 6-3 forward Lawrence McDuff and 5-7 point guard Marvin Hill. Greer said Holmes averaged 25 points a game in a summer league and should be “one of the better guards (or wings) in the city.”

Reserves include 6-1 senior Harout Naldchyan, a 230-pounder who also plays football; 6-0 junior guard Vladimir Monroe, 5-7 junior point guard Mike Witherspoon and 6-0 junior forward Casey Johnson.

“We’re small, but we’re going to surprise (other teams),” Greer said. “Our goal is to win the City. There’s no dominant big man in 3-A, and we can use our quickness to give (opponents) problems.”

PALISADES

Coach Jerry Marvin has seven lettermen, including starters Paul Garrett, a 6-10 senior center who has signed with Stanford, and 5-9 point guard Jamie Dudley, who broke an ankle in the middle of league competition last year.

Without Dudley, Palisades finished the regular season with a 15-8 overall record, 4-6 in league play.

The other lettermen include 6-3 senior forward-center Sherman Garden, 6-2 forward Jonathan Taylor, 5-7 point guard Errol Smith, 6-2 guard-forward Evan Hockman and 6-4 forward Earlic Peters.

Newcomers who will see a lot of action include 6-5 senior center Robert Biggs, 6-0 forward Dion Bascom and 6-4 senior forward Jeff Wilkins.

Marvin said Garrett has put on weight and should improve, that Biggs is a “great leaper,” that Hockman is the team’s best defensive player and that Peters “might be the most talented.”

UNIVERSITY

Last year Coach Jim Nakabara’s Warriors were 10-10 overall and 6-4 in the Pac-6 League, tying for second with Los Angeles and Venice. University went to the quarterfinals in the 3-A playoffs.

Three senior starters return: 5-10 point guard Miko Garcia, 6-3 forward Chuck Hegeman and 6-6 center Greg Spector. Others on the squad are 5-11 senior guard Raymond Pickett, 6-2 junior forward Eric Clark, 6-3 junior forward Remus Johnson and 5-9 junior guard Daniel Leem, the league’s most valuable junior varsity player last season.

Nakabara said the league has been about as balanced as it could be the last two years and doesn’t look much different this season. “Everyone has a chance to take the league, but I think Jordan and Jefferson have the inside track. We, Los Angeles and Venice are about equal.”

VENICE

Last year Venice finished the regular season with a 10-10 overall record and was 6-4 in the Pac-6 League, the same as University.

Coach Bill Louie said he will miss All-City Oliver Lang, who has graduated. Louie said he will change his attack to compensate.

“We can’t always depend on one guy to do it all. We’ll run a passing game and try to get everybody involved. We’ll move the ball around and don’t want to play a half-court game.”

Senior 5-8 point guard Dean Matsubayashi returns as a starter, and 6-6 senior center Chris Cook is the other starter from last year, though he reported late for basketball after playing football.

Until Cook gets his basketball legs back, 6-6 junior Derek Watkins will start at one of the two low-post spots. The other man in the low post will be 6-2 senior Carl Gillette. Gillette is a transfer from St. Monica, as is 6-1 senior wing Allen Christman. The other wing is 6-1 senior Paul Schiff, a reserve last season.

Reserves include 5-9 junior point guard Jeff Morimoto and 6-3 junior forward Lance Patascil.

Louie said his team should do pretty well in a balanced league.

WESTCHESTER

Coach Ed Azzam has three top players returning: 6-7 junior All-City 3-A forward Zan Mason, 6-6 senior guard Mike Brown and 5-9 point guard Sam Crawford. He also has some lettermen and newcomers.

But Azzam, whose team was 13-8 overall and 5-5 in the 4-A Central League last season, said that his is “not the most talented team in the league. Top to bottom, there’s not a tougher league anywhere,” with Crenshaw, Dorsey, Fremont, Washington and Palisades.

“It will be tough for our team to win our league, but we have the capabilities to do it,” he said. But he added that to beat so many good teams “we have to play very, very well. We can’t have an off game.”

Other Westchester players include 6-4 senior forward Scott Crawford, 6-5 junior forward Booker Waugh, 6-0 senior guard Eric McCaskill and 6-1 senior forward Ronnie Tatum. Azzam said that 6-0 senior guard Mike Cooks and 6-6 junior forward Renaud Gordon have C averages and are eligible, but they won’t play until they bring up their grades in a couple of classes.